The present invention is directed to fabrics, and in particular, to pile fabrics having treated pile.
In one method of producing pile fabrics, a double-knitted pile fabric is produced by knitting two separate fabrics face to face with float yarns interlaced between the two. A knife moves between the two fabrics severing the floats, which become cut pile of the pile fabrics. However, the ends of the pile for fabrics produced in this matter are typically disrupted to have an expanded cross-section. In some instances the expanded cross-section appears in a profile view as an anvil. In many instances, the anvil can angle back towards the direction of the pile fiber, producing a hook-like structure. Alternatively, a flat fabric may be napped and sheared, producing expanded fiber ends very similar to those of the slit knit pile. In either case, the pile has a substantially uniform length.
Materials such as fabrics are characterized by a wide variety of functional and aesthetic characteristics. Of those characteristics, a particularly important feature is fabric surface feel or “hand”. The significance of a favorable hand in a fabric is described and explained in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,918,795 and 4,837,902, both issued to Dischler, and both being incorporated in there entirety herein by specific reference thereto.
The expanded end of piles in the traditional pile fabrics provides a hand or surface feel that might have a “sticky” feel. Additionally, if “hooks” are created by the anvil on the end of the piles, the “hooks” can become entangled with materials that pass over the pile fabric, such as furs, or the like. Furthermore, the expanded pile ends, and anvils, of prior art pile can produce an appearance of a different color or hue when the pile is brushed in different directions. Therefore, there is a need for pile fabrics having ends of the pile which reduce these effects of common pile fabric to provide a better “hand” or feel of the fabric.